Brellom
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Beaumont Page Experiment 02
🕑 Added 2021-05-07 10:43:21 +0000 UTCFollowing yesterday’s post, I’ve decided to try a vastly different direction. I took a similar approach for the prototype comic in 2019, albeit with a different rendering style.
One of the benefits to this style is that my rendered illustrations use the same process (before colour is applied). However, it is much less modular, so it's harder to make sweeping changes the more developed the piece is.
The Intent
When I had first conceived of Elayne Beaumont, I thought about portraying her stories in a manner like the old Universal horror films which inspired me, like Dracula & Frankenstein.
These films were inspired by techniques found in German cinema following the events of WW1 – or the Weimar Period. This style of work is referred to as “German Expressionism,” and can be seen in films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu. These films feature distorted imagery, staging, lighting, and special effects to express the psychology of its characters – often a moody & oppressive atmosphere.
It’s monochrome, and thus, does not rely on colour to visually communicate. However, unlike the black & white inked illustrations from yesterday’s post, it is afforded a wider variety of values (shades of grey), making for a very organic image.
Unfortunately, because it is much more realistically rendered, the bar of acceptable quality is higher as a result – if something is flat or shaded incorrectly, it’s much more obvious. I don't know how this will translate to more complex imagery, or even environments.
Don’t forget to eat & sleep.
Comments
brellom
Depends on the style. My recent Eula artwork must go through this process before colours are applied, so it’s not any easier than this style. But an unpainted image might be less work in some ways. We’re afforded some benefits by using colours over black & white, but a lot of challenges too. Images with colours require greater consideration towards the relationships between colours across an entire image, like lighting, environments, depth, harmony, etc. There's a lot of trade-offs that it's hard to measure the difficulty sometimes. The watercolour pieces are often easier though, because they are simpler to prepare. But still have their challenges, and can sometimes look unappealing. If I were to try doing another "painted" style, I might consider using simpler shapes & less values, like a mix between painting & cel-shading.
brellom
I'll have to consider that sometime.
ZBL
I like this style, but it seems easier to do full colors paradoxically.
Calsetes
I love the look of this, for sure.
Jeff Grey
Not a real film buff, but I always loved the aesthetic of German Expressionism myself. Although seeing it on your account just makes me want a sexy girl version of Cesare the Sleepwalker.
Shawn Heatherly
It's quite stylish if nothing else.
